READING, Pa. (Oct. 29, 2015) – Freshman
Janie Kalinock (Ellicott City, Md.) smashed a career-high 18 kills as the Widener University volleyball team punched its ticket to the Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth Tournament with a 3-1 win over Albright on Thursday evening at the Bollman Center. The Pride held off a resilient Lions squad by set scores of 25-21, 22-25, 25-19 and 25-14.
Widener improved to 14-15 overall and 4-4 in MAC Commonwealth play with the victory. The Pride also clinched the fourth seed and hosting rights of the league tournament play-in game on Monday evening. Albright dropped to 5-18 overall and 0-8 in conference action.
Kalincock registered eight kills and hit .545 by committing only two errors on 11 attempts to lead the Pride to victory in the first set. The freshman recorded a kill for the first point and then smashed another one to break a 3-3 tie and ignite a 7-0 run for the Pride. Despite trailing 10-3, Albright battled back and slashed the deficit to a single point at 16-13 on a kill by Kellie Hill. But following a Widener timeout, Kalinock added another kill to swing the momentum and closed the set by finishing a pass from junior setter
Sabrina Barbieri (Glen Mills, Pa.).
Albright, however, controlled the beginning of the second set and built up a 9-6 lead by scoring four unanswered. The Pride came within one on a kill by freshman
Natalie Winn (San Marcos, Calif.), but the Lions bounced back and jumped ahead by a 16-9 score on a Nicole Vasquez kill to prompt a Widener timeout. The hosts held off a furious comeback attempt and held on for a 25-22 win in a set that ended on a Pride service error.
After dropping the second set, Widener recovered and dominated the rest of the way. Trailing 5-3, the visitors embarked on a 6-1 run to take a 9-6 advantage on a Winn kill and took a commanding 20-12 lead on a Maddy Grath attacking error. Freshman
Kelsey Lee (Chesapeake, Va.) registered a service ace on set point as the clincher.
The teams played a close fourth set at the start and Widener found itself clinging to a 10-9 lead courtesy of a Sarah Clark service ace. But the Pride took over from there by scoring 10 of the next 12 points, which was topped by another ace by Lee. Kalinock then fittingly capped her career night by registering a kill off a Barbieri feed on match point.
Kalinock hit at an astounding .640 clip by recording 18 kills against just two errors on 25 attempts to pace Widener. She also led the Pride with three blocks. Winn notched double-digit kills with 10, while Barbieri contributed a double-double with 44 assists and 16 digs. Both of the captain's marks were team bests. Lee had a solid all-around performance with seven kills, 10 digs and three aces.
Greth and Hill led Albright with 12 and 10 kills, respectively, in the losing effort. Claudia Guise fell just shy of a double-double with 30 assists and eight digs.
Widener earned the fourth seed and will host fifth-seeded Hood in the play-in game of the Middle Atlantic Conference Tournament on Monday, Nov. 2 at 7:00 p.m. The winner will visit top-seeded Stevenson for a 7:00 p.m. semifinal match on Wednesday, Nov. 4.
